Haeleum and Travel: Costa Rica

Before the
summer of 2011, I had never traveled outside of the US and Canada. I decided
that needed to change, so I started brainstorming potential destinations. I
wanted my plane ticket to be fairly inexpensive, and the language spoken to be
Spanish. Eventually, I settled on Costa Rica.

Costa Rica was not too
expensive to fly to, Spanish was the spoken language, and there are beautiful
volcanoes, beaches, and rainforests. However, one thing that always came up with
Costa Rica was the bugs. Because of Costa Rica’s tropical climate, mosquitoes
are able to thrive. Moreover, malaria and dengue fever, two of the main
diseases in Costa Rica are spread through mosquitoes. Other bugs that commonly irritate travelers and native Costa Ricans alike are no-see-ums, chiggers, and ticks.

I knew that I was going to
have to find some type of protection against the many bugs of Costa Rica. My
mind immediately went to gross, smelly DEET sprays or awkward clip on fans that
I’d seen on TV. Then I learned about Haeleum shirts with Insect Shield, so I brought the Braedan
and Celan.

They ended up being perfect
for traveling! I was living out of a backpack while visiting different parts of
the country, and it was convenient that Haeleum shirts take very little space
in a backpack, are light weight, and wrinkle free.

The weather was quite warm
when we got to Arenal, our first stop. Walking to our hotel with the sun
shining down on us caused me to work up a bit of a sweat. In similar situations
throughout my trip where the weather was warm and we were hiking or walking, my
Haeleum shirts did an excellent job of keeping me dry.

Throughout my trip I
appreciated how easily my Haeleum shirts dried. We visited a waterfall in
Arenal, and after swimming in the water I could throw my Celan on and know that
I wasn’t going to be a soggy, damp mess for the rest of the hike. The quick
drying properties of the shirts came in handy again when we explored the
rainforest in Monteverde. Throughout our tour of the rainforest, rain poured
down on us. Other tourists in our group were miserable in their cotton
t-shirts, but I was thankful for technical fabric of my Haeleum shirt.

At
the end of my vacation, I concluded that Haeleum shirts are perfect for travel.
Similar to a swiss-army knife, they are useful in many situations. Whether it
is keeping dry during a rain storm or keeping bugs away in a rainforest,
Haeleum shirts excel.